Treasure Hunting System： The Ocean Conquerer

Chapter 617: Chapter 288: The Cause/Defection_3

This made them curious.

”Did you know this world was fragmented and then put back together?”

The crowd nodded. Alka and the others had learned this from the Church when they left the Homeland Sea. Simon, as a Mechanic hailing from such enlightened seas, was already aware. As for Matilda, their Race had recorded this event for generations. Such a monumental event was recorded almost everywhere; it was impossible to conceal. However, there was little record of what happened before that.

Seeing everyone nodding, Alka continued, ”Then did you know that after being pieced together, she is still alive?” At this, Alka’s expression involuntarily turned sorrowful.

Upon hearing this, the crowd didn’t react much. However, the Crystal Dragon, who had been looking at the Ocean, suddenly turned its head and leisurely came over. It lay down beside Jason.

”Hmm? You want to hear too?” Jason looked at her and said.

Ulu Liwus nodded.

”Still alive... What does that mean?” Julia asked solemnly, having thought of something. As a guardian of the environment, she was exceptionally sensitive to these things. The recent sadness had already caught her attention. By now, very unsettling thoughts had formed in her mind.

Alka looked at everyone with a serious expression. He slowly began to speak, ”Literally... the world has always been alive, nurturing all things on it. However, the arrival of the Divine War caused the world to break, and it was pieced together again through the operations of some gods.”

The identity of which gods he meant was very clear, but it was evidently rebellious to mention them at this moment.

”The world, which should have fallen directly into death, had barely survived. However, it was in a state of... being fragmented all over yet forcibly pieced together, barely clinging to life.”

”Oh my god,” upon hearing this, Julia couldn’t help but cry out. As a guardian of the environment, she empathized deeply. Alka’s explanation made her recall the sadness she had felt.

”It’s like a normal living being that was shattered into fragments, only to be forcibly pieced together again by some mysterious power and manipulation. Yet, it has to endure such pain—an unending pain, forever. These fragmented scars are so grotesque, so unbearable. The world’s Rule has long been chaotic due to this fragmentation. Even with the gods trying their best to maintain order, it’s still to no avail.”

This statement made everyone present knit their brows. The words, paired with their firsthand experience of that pain, brought an overwhelming sense of suffocation over them, and for a moment, they didn’t know how to breathe. Because the source of such pain was right beneath their feet—the Island, the Ocean, the world they lived in.

As they began to ponder the four worlds separated by the gods... they quickly halted that line of thought.

”But... but the Daughter of Life said They are powerless. She said They can only let the world heal itself, that over time it would heal on its own,” Julia spoke with a pained expression; evidently, she knew more. With Alka’s explanation, and recalling her past experiences, some things started to make sense.

Alka looked at her and took a deep breath. ”But the Spirit of the World already exists. It just hasn’t fully awakened, and such pain makes her prefer to die.”

Then Alka stopped digging deeper and continued, ”The Mirmi I simulated is, by his very nature, a Natural Essence of the Spiritual World. His duty is to heal the world. As Natural Essences, they are born with the ability to connect with the world and feel its pain empathically. They possess a natural resistance because they are born from the world itself.”

”But when I simulated him, I naturally attained equivalent power... Then, the moment that power became mine, I naturally connected to the world... Grief and pain inundated me, like the Ocean.”

At this point, Alka stopped speaking. Everyone naturally understood why he had reacted that way earlier.

At this moment, Julia’s lower body transformed back into her fish tail. Water swirled around it, lifting her up.

Alka watched Julia approach, giving her a questioning look.

Julia extended her hand, saying, ”Can you let me personally bear... the world’s grief?”

Alka looked at her, at Julia’s determined eyes. She seemed resolute to experience it.

”Are you sure?”

”Yes.”

Given this, Alka didn’t protest further. He silently raised his hand and took her palm.

The Mirror Surface appeared on Alka’s face. Mirmi’s figure emerged in the Mirror, then the Mirror began to change, quickly transforming into the previous stag-headed mask.

But this time, Alka was already prepared; he wouldn’t rashly connect directly with the world. He extracted some power control techniques from his memory fragments—techniques to transfer feelings and connect with others.

Plant-like thorns composed of white mist spread from Alka’s hand, encircling his arm and then winding all the way to Julia’s hand. As the thorns finished twining around their arms, the spikes on them pierced the skin of both.

”Here it comes,” Alka said, closing his eyes.

A tidal wave of pain and grief passed through the thorns, instantly flooding Julia’s mind.

”AAAAH...”

Julia’s eyes widened immediately. Painful wails escaped her as veins bulged on her face, and blood vessels became prominent, running down from her face and along her neck. Her skin immediately turned slightly red. Tiny fish scales appeared behind her ears, on her cheeks, around her eye sockets, and on her collarbones.

The coin originally imprinted on her hand floated out. It reversed, the skull side now facing outward. A blood-colored aura started to emerge, reclaiming dominance.

Through the pain, tears flowed from Julia’s eyes. The tears gradually turned from blue streams into blood-red droplets.

”Let go, Alka! She can’t endure much longer!” Matilda yelled from the side.

Alka shook his head. ”No, it’s not that I won’t let go. She’s the one who wants to endure.”

”...”

Everyone fell silent. After all, having been together for so many years, they already understood Julia to a certain extent. Though Julia didn’t often say much, she always repaired the environment whenever she could. This was especially true after they left the Homeland Sea, crossed the forward channels, and reached the Endless Sea. They could often see Julia in low spirits because she was powerless to repair the surroundings there.

This had been her duty for hundreds of years, but now she lacked the strength to fulfill it. That was why her power had increased so quickly; among them, she was the most serious and diligent. Her growth, her education, her beliefs—all were dedicated to this world.

After reaching the Endless Sea, she had spent even more time trying to understand the surrounding environment, to pinpoint where the problems lay and how to change things.

Now Alka had told her that the world wished to die, that it preferred destruction rather than enduring such pain. This shattered her entire worldview; her beliefs crumbled.

Although the others didn’t quite understand the doctrines of the Seed of Life, they knew that environmental preservation was mainly about protecting life. Certain tenets of her faith now contradicted what she had learned. Her faith had told her to protect the world, and she had indeed done so for hundreds of years. Yet, the truth she had now obtained was that the world preferred death, and that such agony was a consequence of it being forcibly kept alive.

”The blessing of life is abandoning her,” Simon observed quietly, standing beside Julia. ”She’s forsaking her doctrine, rejecting life. She’s... turning renegade.”